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We have helped quite a few independent businesses get started with solid Online Internet Marketing methods and advice. We recognize how social media usage, search engine optimization and online marketing can be just as difficult and off-topic from their core knowledge as Quickbooks and Accounting practices.

Even with this understanding, I’m a little surprised to be pointing out the obvious of how NOT to use your Facebook page to win business and influence friends in 2013.

But, apparently its worth reminding business owners that social networks are the front store that most potential customers will see before ever walking in your door.

Don’t give people an excuse to walk past your storefront…but definitely don’t give them an excuse to throw mud and trash on it either.

I’ve written previously about the issues involved in doing a complete redo of your website. Often, when a new account hires Astute Marketing, we are asked to “redo their website”. This process seems to always mean creating a whole new look, new headers, written content and pictures. Many companies envision a review process across the entire new site, and once approved, a flipping of the switch so that the old site disappears and the new site instantly shows up.

Serious issues can occur if you chose to flip a completely new site live, replacing your old one. Google may choose to no longer offer your site as highly as it used to do for the same search terms or keyword(s). There are ways to make sure this doesn’t occur, but depending on the size of your site and other factors, even those tools or tricks may not prevent some significant penalty.

Don’t roll a new site if you haven’t had this discussion with your team. If they don’t know anything about the subject…and many, many web developers do not…then you need to halt that process until you are comfortable that a knowledgeable person is directing the effort.

Just as a reminder, I thought posting this article from Brafton might help you remember the dangers of massive website updates before its too late. I’ve also written about “Mr. Google”, Matt Cutts, numerous times. This post discusses his latest response to a question at SXSW 2013 about pushing thousands of archive pages to a new site. Matt points out that a site doing so could get caught in several ways, either by a Panda trigger or manual review, that would adversely impact their traffic and search results.

Don’t roll that new site until you are comfortable you won’t be penalized. Use a professional or change things a little at a time.

“So here’s a thought: Let’s forget the cheap Chinese buffet rule of having consistent blogging schedule and ditch it in favour of an occasional steak dinner. The kind you save up for and enjoy. The kind you really savour. The kind you look forward to because it’s rare. And because it’s that good.”

A friend and I were going over the logos and he thought the hidden message in the FedEx logo may be coincidental. It wasn’t. We stress to our clients how important it is to seek out and be willing to pay for an experienced, professional graphics design shop when considering a company or product brand logo.

But, since a Logo is worth a 1,000.000 Orders, you be the judge. Intentionally clever? Subtly hidden just for insiders? What do you think? Click on first sentence to see the entire slide show presentation.

Google just added a new search option, called the Bacon Number. Adding Bacon Number to an Actor or Celebrity name will calculate and display the other actors that have mutually worked with Kevin Bacon or your provided actor in the same movie. Or worked with an Actor that later worked with one of them. For each actor that is needed to link the original actor to Kevin, that counts as one degree of separation.

This fun little actor trivia game is based on Six degrees of separation, a concept that refers to the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of “a friend of a friend” statements can be made, on average, to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. It was originally set out by Frigyes Karinthy and popularized by a play written by John Guare.

So, now that you have Google’s help, see if you can find an Actor with a Bacon Number greater than 3. You’ll likely be amazed how small, or tight, the “Hollywood” industry appears when viewed from a “How Connected Are They” search tool.

Unfortunately, your industry doesn’t have a Bacon Number Tool, but it is almost certainly as connected. You are probably no more than 3 degrees, and no further than six degrees, away from every client or potential client. And they are that close to each other as well.

This close connectivity within an industry, or a community, is what makes social networking so effective for businesses, even small ones. Ask your next new customer how they found out about you. If it’s a person, thank them on your Facebook page and Twitter.

We’re very excited to see LinkedIn’s continued growth in popularity as well as the tweaks and redesign of their site and content promotion. As it’s popularity and respect has grown, it presents more and more opportunity to companies and individuals to promote their message.

I had a friend suggest I take a look at a humorous Youtube video they stumbled across. Several of us enjoyed watching it in the office, but it takes a special kind of viewer to enjoy this one. I know I’ve seen clients roll their eyes upward during any conversation about the emotion or imagery created by a…

wait on it…

Particular. Font. Type.

Yeah, I get it. Only professionals really care about the finer points of their jobs. Sure, a Serif by any other treatment is a Sans Serif to another. But, watching this kind of short video can help communicate how font choices may indeed create some indirect emotion or imagery. Plus, if you’re a marketing techno geek, it’s cheeky and fun.